


Scary Stories

by WolfPrincessSarah



Series: AI Verse - One Shots [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Abyssal Infinitum Universe, Book Abuse, F/M, Faunus Ruby Rose (RWBY), Faunus Summer Rose (RWBY), Fluff, Gen, I give you Summer Rose with fluffy tail, One Shot, Ruby touches fluffy tail but not in a lewd way she is a CHILD, Sisterly Trolling, Wolf Faunus Ruby Rose (RWBY), Worldbuilding, blatant multi-layered foreshadowing, friendly teasing, haha fluff get it because summer rose has a fluffy tail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27304000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfPrincessSarah/pseuds/WolfPrincessSarah
Summary: Nine years before the Fall of Beacon, Été "Summer" Rose reads a bedtime story about a noble beowolf and a rampaging Ursa in the old Kingdom of Mantle to her two daughters on Grimm's Day—the night the monsters come out to play. Halloween one-shot set in the same timeline asBefore the Whims of Fate.
Relationships: Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long
Series: AI Verse - One Shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993534
Kudos: 5





	Scary Stories

**The Xiao Long-Rose family home, Patch  
** **October 31st, Y195.12**

Grimm's End, that usually happened on the day following is a celebration of the triumph of darkness over evil. The twilight of bloodshed and horror. But, today was _not_ that most hollowed of days. It was the night before—Grimm's Day—the night the monsters came out to have their day, before the forces of light and good pushed them back into the darkness for another year.

Of course, the very young _Rubi_ Rose, a gentle dark-haired wolf faunus, she knew there was no such thing as the Grimm coming back and leaving every year. The original form of the holiday was nothing more than the commemoration of an ancient battle, the stories of which filled dusty old tomes across the libraries of Remnant—and in the hearts of those that survived in this place long abandoned by the Gods.

But as with many things in this world, it lingered around, a scrap of a past triumph most had long forgotten; a symbol of something that had long since drifted below the lowest precipice of mankind's living memory.

"Yang..." Ruby started, as she huddled, trembling under her red fluffy blanket.

"Do you think what Uncle Qrow said is true? That Grimm come out more on this night?"

Yang drifted sleepily out from under her covers and stepped across her and her sister's shared room. She then bent her knees and leapt onto Ruby's bed, pouncing onto her little sister.

"You think you have more to fear from them?! Muahahahha!" 

Yang's was an evil laugh, as she tickled her sister relentlessly.

"Yang! You little—" 

"Girls!"

Both blonde and brunette pivoted around swiftly, seeing the lovely form of their mother, Éte Rose.

"Mom! We were just—"

Été's silver eyes blinked once as she crossed her arms. She was wearing a simple black sleeping dress, a far cry from her ostentatious combat gear. It had a frilly red hem, and she left her knees exposed underneath.

Just past the lowest edge of the dress, the reddish tip of an otherwise black tail peeked out, which swayed back and forth gently as Été rested her hand against the doorframe.

"Just _being_ noisy little _brats_ , I see..." Their mother mused as she stepped into their room, shutting the door.

Rubi squirmed under the covers, kicking her feet up at Yang. "Gerroff me, _maman_!"

Été then approached from behind and pulled Yang off, grunting at the tomboy's weight. The blonde swiftly started giggling maniacally.

"Mom, lemme go!"

Though the fiery little future Huntress would not say it, she was enjoying the attention a little immensely. 

"Oooh, not a chance, my little firebrand!" 

Summer then promptly hefted Yang onto her shoulders by her legs. The blonde girl started playfully slapping the back of her mother. She unceremoniously pulled down, and tossed her wayward tomboyish daughter into the bed, who swiftly started snort-giggling like a madgirl. 

She then sat on Yang's yellow sheet, sighing.

"Mom?" 

"Yes, Rubi?"

"Can you read us a story?"

Été smiled softly, and turned her eyes to a bookcase on the other side of the room. 

"Well, I _suppose_ ," she mused. "But after this, you two have to _promise_ to tuck in for the night."

Rubi excitedly bobbed her head. "I promise!"

Été then turned to face her more gilded, freckled daughter. 

"You too, Yang... You might be the oldest, but you gotta go to bed _too_."

Yang leaned forward, then tucked her head into her knees. 

"Fiiiiiiine..."

Été moved over and ruffled Yang's yellowed mane. "Good girl." 

Yang stuck her tongue out at her rebelliously, but she found it was swiftly sandwiched between her mother's thumb and index finger.

" _Stop_ that," she sternly corrected.

"Awwight, mawm," came the stunted reply.

Été let go, then walked over to the bookshelf, perusing the titles of the various childen's books—and in Ruby's case, technical manuals and a small collection of back-issues of _Atlas Mechanics_.

The fluffy wolfgirl didn't quite understand everything in them, of course, but she demonstrated an early acumen that might hint at her making, at the very least, a gifted engineer in the future—something Été would have been absolutely happy to see, because it meant she wouldn't end up as just another soldier in Ozma's army, like herself.

Été bit her lip, then asked her kids what they wanted to hear.

"Ooh, ooh!" Rubi practically shouted. "How about _The Odyssey to Vacuo_?"

Their mother crossed her arms and flicked her fluffy, red-and-black tail to the left. "A little lengthy and ... _energetic_ for a sleep story, honestly... How about this one—"

She crooked a finger along the spine of a much thinner book with an ice blue cloth binding.

" _The Princess, the Beowolf and the Ursa_?"

"Yes!" Ruby's arms excitedly shot into the air. "I _love_ that one!"

"Well then, let's all snuggle up on Yang's bed and I'll read it to you..."

☽🎕☾

Long ago, there was a frozen kingdom that had been consumed by darkness. It was ruled by over by a warrior-king, a man steadfast and iron-willed.

One awful night, a massive bear began to rampage through the kingdom. But this... was no ordinary bear, for it was one of the Gods' worst creations---an Ursa. A Creature of Grimm.

The worst had come to pass, and the bear rampaged through the palace. It beat down every knight and noble warrior in the palace, until coming face-to-face with the noble king himself, in his throne room.

The king stood his ground. He and the bear wrestled with each other for the fate of the kingdom, and at first the bear was beaten back. 

But it would not last for long. The bear had escaped, and kept besieging the kingdom, setting fire to every home, shop, and church in the city.

This unstoppable creature of Grimm eventually laid siege to the keep itself, and in the fighting, one princess—a fair maiden with skin and hair as white as the snow that surrounded her father's kingdom—escaped, fleeing into the tundra.

As snowflakes and ice fell onto her skin, she felt the heavy, hot breath of another creature.

The princess fell to the permafrost, scrambling away from the sight. This was another monster, a creature of Grimm---but of a different stripe. Furry and fanged, black as night, and growling, she knew what this thing that was to eat her was. 

A mighty Beowolf. She reacted in terror, knowing what would come, and yet she still begged for her life to be spared.

"Please! I am but a helpless maiden—I flee a great evil that has beset itself on my home and kingdom! Have mercy, I beg of you!"

The Beowolf snarled, coming closer and baring its claws and fangs in equal degrees. It would have been the end for her, had she not said one final thing.

"An Ursa! With a scar!"

The wolf stopped in her tracks.

"What _kind_ of scar?"

The Princess was confused. She had never heard anything about the _Grimm_ speaking before.

"You... understand me?"

The wolf pounced forward, gripping the princess' head in her claws.

"I do. _What kind of scar?_ " The wolf demanded.

The princess trembled in fear. "Three long ones! On her back!" 

The wolf angled her snout to the great steam city beyond.

"You— You know it?" The princess asked.

"I do," came the roughly-hewn reply. "For she is the one who killed my pack."

The princess slowly came to her feet, dusting the snow off of her beautiful dress. 

"I am... I am sorry to hear that."

☽🎕☾

"Waaaait a minute!" Ruby whined as she was tucked into Été's side.

"Why would an Ursa fight a Beowolf?" She shook her head. "Grimm never fight each other, right?"

"Yeah!" Yang playfully added. "They only eat and tear humans up! Like me!"

"And me!" Ruby countered.

"Sis, a Beowolf might just think you were one of their own!"

Ruby's ears flattened against her head and then she stuck her tongue out at Yang, who just started giggling again.

Été rolled her eyes. "Yang, _what_ did I tell you about making fun of Ruby's ears?"

Yang fell into her mother's side a little more. "To not do it anymore..."

"I— I really don't mind it," Ruby said pensively. "But mom, again... why would a monster try to fight another one?"

"Well, _ma petite louve_ ," Été began. "What would a little girl like you know of monsters?"

Their mother trailed off, seemingly not expecting an answer.

"But it's a fairy tale, a story... maybe it is true, maybe it isn't. But I'll never _finish_ it if you keep interrupting me, _ma petite louve_ , _et ma petit dragon_."

Été hugged both her little girls, ruffled their hair and kept reading.

☽🎕☾

The wolf inhaled, taking in the subtle, smoky scents of the human's city. Steam trains and heater lines ran across every building, and at its heart, the beating heart of their greatest work of artifice, the Great Heater itself.

She walked into the city, cradling the princess in her arms as she beheld the sight of the lumbering, scarred Ursa in the distance, climbing up the vast tower and steamworks of the Great Heater.

She set the princess gently to the ground and called up to the Ursa.

"You! You destroyer and killer, you butcher of men!

"I rebuke you and call you down!"

The Ursa glared down from its bronze perch and roared at the wolf, recognizing it as the survivor of that pack it slaughtered days ago.

It dug a mighty claw into the side of the Heater, tearing bronze panelling, gauges, pipes in its wake. It fell through decks and panels and people aplenty, then collided with the ground, roaring once more.

This was to be a battle between the darkness and what lies within...

Between yin and between—

☽🎕☾

"Yang!" Ruby bellowed out. "Stop tugging on my ears!"

Yang had reached across Été's chest, and was pulling on Rubi's fluffy, wolven ears. The younger sister cried out in pain as their mother swiftly brought up her arms, breaking the grip the older sister had.

Été then glared into her older daughter's violet eyes.

" _Yang!_ You _know_ that hurts."

Yang pouted, then relaxed, leaning back into her mother's side.

Summer felt her own tail being painfully yanked, but from the other side. She turned her silvery eyes to Rubi, who suddenly started giggling like a hyena.

"Oh, you little _ra'kus bakun!_ I'm gonna get you for that!"

"Oh no!" Rubi shouted, as her tail-bearing mother pounced on her dramatically.

The ensuing family tickle fight lasted at least ten minutes before the rest of the story could be read. At least a few pages ended up getting folded and tostled around haphazardly—sustaining damage which would make any book lover recoil in sheer sympathetic pain—before the three decided to shove the book to the side.

To this day, the Xiao Long-Rose's family copy of _The Princess, the Beowolf and the Ursa_ still has a few wrinkled pages—as well as a scorchmark on page four, but that was from a later, unrelated fireworks incident.

Blame Yang.

☽🎕☾

The Ursa fell to the ground with a mighty growl, then charged the noble Beowolf.

They clashed and fought and growled for hours upon hours, until finally the Ursa lay beaten and defeated, walking back out into the frozen wasteland that it came from.

The Princess came to the side of the Beowolf, happy to see the evil that had killed her family be vanquished and broken.

"I thank thee, my noble friend, for your aid."

"It was for my pack, not you," said the noble wolf. "But there is something I should like to do for them now as well."

"I should like to stay by you and your family's side, on this and every night. Should the bear return, I shall swear to protect you from it."

"Whatever monsters out there lay in the black, I alone will stand against them."

"But—" the princess said, taking the hand of the wolf— "Thou shalt not stand against them alone. I will fight them with you, for my family, and for my kingdom."

The wolf bellowed in laughter. "So it shall be!"

The princess then shouted to the survivors, the citizens of her greatest kingdom. 

"This shall be known! This beowolf stands with us against the darkness!

"Thee shalt treat him as a knight of my own court, on this and every day to come!"

☽🎕☾

"—The end," Été finished.

"What a weird story," Yang deadpanned. 

Ruby crawled out of Yang's bed, slowly working her way over to her own. "Well, _you're_ just mad you didn't get to read the lines of the pirate captain in _Odyssey_!"

Yang stuck her tongue out at Ruby, an action that was mirrored by the younger sister almost simultaneously. Yang then looked at her mother.

"Moooom," Yang whined. "Can we read the other one?"

Été chuckled. "Perhaps tomorrow night, my little firebrand..."

At that, the silver-eyed warrior stepped away sadly, snuffing the Dust lights in her daughter's room as she went.

"Can you leave one on, mom?" asked Ruby as she was pulling a stuffed arctic fox, her favorite, close to her chest.

Summer turned and smiled as she stopped at the last candle. 

"I most certainly can... but you know that as long as I'm around... you don't have to be afraid of the dark."

"Or—" Été added— "what lies within."

At that, she stepped out, leaving the door open a crack so she could hear her daughters as she turned in for the night.

☽🎕☾

"Then, remember what Raven said?"

Tai chuckled as he put his glass of—admittedly decaffinated—sweet tea down onto the Rose's hardy spruce dining table. 

"If I don't come back from that closet, Pin it on—" 

" _Qrow!_ " The two yelled out in unison, then promptly started chuckling.

Since the kids were—presumably, finally asleep—the two parents had decided to stay up a little while longer, reminiscing and waxing nostalgic about better days. Tai was resting against the counter.

His favorite spot, most of the time.

"You know—"

Été took a sip of her chamomile tea, then wrapped her hands around it, feeling the warmth resonating into her palms.

"I sometimes wonder what happened to Raven."

She shook her head. "We haven't seen her in ages."

Tai then somewhat turned his blue, mysterious eyes to the ground, quiet for a moment before responding.

"Well, she can get lost in the Spiral Mountains, for all I care."

Summer pulled back away from her tea and leaned back in her chair. 

"She was _your_ friend too. And Yang's mother."

She turned her hands over, splaying her fingers out at her husband in confusion.

"I'd think you of all people to have a _slightly_ better opinion of her."

Tai Yang just turned around, and started running water to do a few spare dishes with. 

"She's not here for Yang—" He turned to the side and glanced at his wife— "But _you_ are, Été. That says a lot."

Summer looked way from Tai and tapped the side of her mug with her nails idly.

"I think it says that I have the _time_ and the will to be there for Yang... And she is beautiful..."

She turned her silvery eyes back to her husband.

"I can only hope that wherever Raven _is_ , she's doing something really important, like Qrow."

"And trade her bandit scarf in for shining armor?" Tai Yang chuckled, shaking his head. "That'll be the day."

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Grimm's Day :P  
>   
> This is just a filler sidepiece while I'm working on planning some scenes out. But as per usual with me there are some... Important details tucked in there. It's not _all_ filler.  
>   
>  **"Lost in the Spiral Mountains"**  
>  The Spiral Mountain range is a small chain of mountains, arranged into a strange spiral pattern, midway between Vale and Vacuo, on the continent of Sanus. It has notoriously unpredictable, violent weather patterns and a difficult to navigate, downright confusing terrain. Thus, it has gained a reputation somewhat akin to the Bermuda Triangle in our world; with entire airship fleets seemingly going missing when they attempt to cross it.  
>   
> It is also the centerpiece of a few myths and legends, including the faunus tales _Baku the Elder_ (the Hijimi version, depicting the iconic Baku as a wise freedom fighter whose death was a tragedy for all faunus), and _Baku the Tyrant_ (the somewhat darker Hitomari version, depicting Baku as an opportunistic warlord who made things worse for the faunus in the end).  
>   
> For more on Baku, see [this entry](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21513859/chapters/62538124) of the [Atlesian Codex](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21513859).  
>   
>  **Mantle and the Great Heater**  
>  Long before the raising of almost 2/3rds of the city into the air, there was originally a massive steam-powered boiler heater in Mantle—where Atlas Academy is now located—fed by Fire Dust mined from the caves below. The design of the heater radiated huge amounts of heat, boiling water and raising the overall temperature of the surrounding area, allowing it to be habitable by people without strong Auras.  
>   
> Yes, the backstory of Atlas and Mantle in this AU is essentially Frostpunk. Frankly, I'm not apologizing, as it just makes _sense_ given what we're shown and how lethal the tundra is shown to be. For all I know that could be what CRWBY _had in mind_ when they were designing Mantle's aesthetic.  
>   
> I have another side-story planned in the future, a somewhat short novella (kinda? fanfics are weird to classify. Around ten or so chapters, nothing on the scale of my main stories.) involving an ancestor of General Ironwood that was responsible for leading the first voyage to Solitas.  
>   
> Atlas' incredible technology didn't come out of nowhere; they had stages of development as well. The reason Mantle looks the way it does, with that vast piping and victorian-style architecture, is because many of those buildings were originally fed by either heated runoff from the Great Heater or one of the many, _many_ secondary ones throughout the city.  
>   
> Updates over the years have added newer, more sophisticated heating systems to most of the buildings, but a great many still run on fire or combustion dust boilers, resulting in its iconic, dirty, smoky appearance vs. Atlas' sophisticated, high-tech one—a problem exacerbated by industrial pollution from the crater.  
>   
> Just one more way the elites of Atlas don't really give a crap about Mantle anymore, as long as it keeps pumping out Dust.


End file.
